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Success Story

Coaching – reducing costs of a dosing system

A supplier of laboratory appliances wants to significantly reduce the manufacturing costs of its products. Zühlke is guiding the customer’s core team in a systematic process to transform the existing system into a cost reduced system.

Task

Hamilton Bonaduz AG is a global market leader in the development and manufacturing of precise pipetting robots for fluids. These dosing systems consist of a number of modules, which are very reliable but are now considered too expensive to manufacture. In cooperation with the customer’s core team, Zühlke is aiming to reduce the production costs of a dosing module by at least 30 percent, while at the same time training the customer team so that it can independently carry out similar cost cutting projects for other modules.

Implementation

The project is being carried out on the basis of the proven Zühlke cost cutting process. A first step will see Zühlke, together with the customer, assessing the modules and selecting a suitable one for the process analysis, as well as appointing representatives from the company’s R&D, purchasing and production departments to the four person core team.

The Zühlke coach will then instruct the core team in the required methodology and approach for such cost cutting projects. During the five subsequent one-day workshops, the team will work together on determining the current status and analysing the potential. The coach will also involve relevant Zühlke experts to help with the development of the proposed solution. The result involves a two-stage implementation approach for the cost cutting measures:

‘Soft’ product optimisation with a short-term implementation horizon of a few weeks and potential savings of approximately 30 percent.

‘Complete’ reengineering, with a long-term horizon of approximately two years and cost reduction potential of approximately 47 percent.

Customer benefits

The systematic and methodical approach of the Zühlke coach ensured that the current cost reduction potential was exploited within a matter of weeks.

The coaching enables the project manager and the client’s core team to oversee further cost cutting projects independently.

The client was able to draw on the skills and expertise of all the Zühlke specialists that the coach involved in the project.